SCHMOLZ + BICKENBACH announced a major investment in its subsidiary, Swiss Steel. At around CHF 49M, a new walking beam furnace and two new Garrett coilers will be installed at the Emmenbrücke site in Switzerland.
With the investment, Swiss Steel is updating its facilities resulting in one of the most modern facilities in the world. The production potential for special steels is increased by around 8%. The new walking beam furnace allows optimal and more efficient heating of the previously produced billets at the desired temperatures, preparing the billet for its further processing in the downstream rolling mill. In addition to a performance increase, this also reduces quality losses and achieves substantial energy and CO2 savings. The new Garrett coilers used to wind the rolled products after they were processed in the rolling mill will allow an increase of ring weight to over 2.2 tons from 1.8 tons currently.
The commissioning of the plant is planned in stages. The walking beam furnace is expected to go into operation in 2019, the Garrett coilers a year earlier. Full operation is expected for the end of 2020.
